Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
He got the feeling she would shoot him and walk over his dead body to get to Kyle.
“The woman who called told her she’d escaped from her captors and then pretty much pretended she was being taken again,” Lydia explained. “How do you want me to handle it? I can be at her place in half an hour.”
“Has she called in the police?” Kyle was right. Julia wanted chaos.
“No, because the kidnapper—and I’m using air quotes—came on the line and said he would kill Julia if she called the police. Which is why she called me. I hope it was okay for me to send her to Adam Miles,” Lydia said. “I know he and Chelsea Weston have some clearance, and they were brought in on the original investigation.”
“That’s exactly the right thing to do,” he replied. He looked to Big Tag, muting the phone for a moment. “Is my mom talking to Adam right now?”
Tag nodded. “He was at Sanctum. Charlie got him, and your mother had already called him when he got to his cell. He called her right back, and he’s reassuring her now, but you’re going to have to talk to her.”
“I know.” He took a deep breath and touched the screen to unmute the phone. “All right, Lydia. I’m going to call her. I’ll handle everything from my end. Don’t even worry about this. Did she ask for money?”
He noticed Taylor sank down to a chair beside Kyle. She was buttoned up again, wearing the clothes she’d worn earlier in the day.
She was supposed to still be naked. He could have convinced her to sleep with him, to stay with him. They should be cuddled up and resting together.
Instead, her shoulders were back up and every line of her body was tight again.
“Yes, but I don’t know the exact amount,” Lydia said. “It would probably be best if you come back to DC for a couple of days. She’s going to need to see you.”
“I don’t think that is possible right now.”
“You can’t cut a vacation short for your mom?” Suspicion had crept into Lydia’s tone. There was a shuffling sound. “That doesn’t sound like you. I expected to have to figure a way to get you on a private jet tonight.”
“I’m about to call her. I’ll deal with travel if I need to come home. It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
She sighed over the line. “Okay. But if you have any trouble, call me and I’ll help. It feels like you’re keeping something from me, but I suppose if it was important enough you would let me know.”
“Thank you. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay. I hope you’re safe, Drake. Be careful,” she said, and the line went dead.
“The tech is curious?” Taggart asked.
“She’s been a friend for a long time.” He wouldn’t exactly call Lydia a close friend, but she was as much a friend as he could have at the Agency. She was like Brad. He trusted her to a point. He would be happy to work with her when they were in London. She would be good cover for him to be there, but he wouldn’t let her know he was staying at The Garden. He wouldn’t tell her about his real mission.
“What are you going to tell your mother?” Taylor asked, her tone entirely professional.
Like he hadn’t recently had his mouth on her. Like twenty minutes ago they hadn’t been on the edge of making love.
“I’m going to calm her down and tell her the truth—that I’m going to handle the situation.”
“You’re not going to tell her that her daughter is alive and she should be careful?” Again, she used a polite tone, but he could sense the bite underneath. “Everything I’ve read about Julia Ennis tells me she’s dangerous. Especially to the people she was close to before she disappeared.”
“I can’t tell her.”
“Why not?”
Was she going to make him say it? “Because that’s classified information.”
Taylor nodded like she’d known that would be his answer. “So you lie to her and she’s potentially in danger?”
“Legally he can’t tell his mother anything.” At least Big Tag was on his side. “Not only could Drake lose his job, he could go to jail. Not that it stopped Kyle.”
“I didn’t tell anyone,” Kyle argued. “My whole freaking family is made up of busybodies who can’t keep their noses out of anything. They figured it out. And MaeBe didn’t know at all. I didn’t talk to her about Julia. I mean I did, but in a ‘she’s out of my life’ way. You can’t imagine how much I regret not protecting her better than I did. She only knows now because she’s actually met my psychotic ex. Julia recently broke her arm and shot her. I’m also starting to wonder if the stabbing that happened a couple of months ago wasn’t Julia, too. One of her men, at least.”